Dani hurriedly wiped the back of her hand across her eyes and took a deep breath, refusing to look at Katie who was standing across from her.

"You can't keep doing this," Dani said angrily. "I have my own life to live and I'm not going to let you ruin it for me. Get over Malfoy! He doesn't like you."

"You agreed to help me!" Katie protested.

"Not every second of every day! And at first I thought it might be possible, but it turned out that there's absolutely no hope for you! I'm sorry!" Dani snapped, looking up at her finally to glare.

"But we were going out for so long and suddenly he dumped me for no reason! I just don't understand what I did wrong." Katie said.

"You're not going to find out by sending me to pretend to be you!" Dani said, shaking her head. "Now I'm going to my dorm and I'm going to sleep. I can't possibly have fun any more tonight."

"Dani, I'm sorry," Katie said, reaching out as her twin sister turned and began walking away. "Wait."

"What for?" Dani asked coldly, pausing momentarily but not turning around.

"Maybe... this wasn't for Draco." Katie said slowly. "It was more for you."

Dani spun around, eyes narrowed in a question.

"I mean, I didn't know how else to approach you. If I needed something it would be understandable and when Draco broke up with me it was the perfect opportunity. I'm sorry for doing this, but I wanted to get closer to you again." Katie whispered the last part and stared at the ground, not wanting to see Dani's face.

Dani couldn't believe her ears. Katie had wanted to get closer to her?

"You..."

"I loved swapping places so much and I'm sorry, but I really loved being part of your life again. Until we swapped places, I had no idea who you had a crush on." Katie explained.

"Katie, you're the one who rejected me when I wasn't sorted into Slytherin." Dani pointed out quietly.

"There isn't really anything I can do except say I'm sorry." Katie murmured.

"You're right," Dani said quietly. "But I'll have to get back to you on whether it's enough."

*

Harry stood in the Great Hall in disbelief. Had he honestly just seen what he thought he had seen? But why would Dani trade places with Katie when she had said yes to going with him and hadn't sounded uncomfortable with it?

Unless...

With a frown, Harry hoped that what he thought wasn't true, but it seemed to work perfectly with everything that had happened.

When he had first asked her she must have gone off and asked Katie to swap with her, so it had to be Katie who had said yes in an enthusiastic way. Then it had probably been Katie that he was first walking to the Great Hall with, meaning Dani had run up and dragged her away to swap places again. Then, after that Katie swapped back and he had been with that twin until just a few moments ago when the plan was revealed.

But why? Why would Dani say yes to him if she didn't even like him at all and didn't want to go with him? She could have just gone with someone else if she'd said no to him.

Then again, what if she liked the same guy as Katie did?

Harry quickly shut down that idea, though, because he knew Katie liked Malfoy and Dani absolutely hated him.

Sighing, he walked over to get a drink. He couldn't understand why Dani would subject herself to having to dance with Malfoy just so that she could get out of dancing with him.

*

Dani was up in her dorm before anyone else got there. Taking off her new silver dress and the mask, she got into her pyjamas before crawling into bed and hiding under the covers. She could imagine the pain Harry was feeling when he realised he'd been ditched by her and just wanted to fall asleep so she didn't have to think about it any more.

Suddenly remembering something, Dani groaned and rolled over to shove her head into her pillow. Bri was probably going to go to Paris with Dayn, who knows why, which meant she wouldn't be around to give advice after a while.

What was with suddenly deciding to up and go to Paris, anyway? It's not like there was anything interesting there.

Except, you know, the Eiffel Tower and stuff.

Dani had only just managed to begin drifting off to sleep when there was a tap on her window and she grumbled under her breath, lifting her head to look over and see whether she should be bothered to open it. She hated getting mail late at night.

Blinking her eyes rapidly, she sat up properly and stared at the window in shock.

Somehow coming to her senses, she stood and walked over quickly, opening the window and shivering as a gust of wind blew in.

"You're not an owl." she mumbled, frowning at Malfoy. He was sitting on his broom and had a smirk on his face, still wearing the suit and mask from the ball.

"Nice pyjamas." he said in amusement. Dani glanced down at herself and sighed when she realised her pants and top had pygmy puffs printed all over them in different colours.

"Shove off, Malfoy." she said, moving to close the window.

"Don't you want to have a breath of fresh air?" he asked, putting out a hand to hold the window open.

"I've had one." Dani said bluntly, before trying to close the window again, not even caring if she slammed it on his hand in the process.

"Look, I'm just trying to be nice," Malfoy said, his grip on the window unfortunately very strong. "You didn't seem to be having fun tonight so I wanted to try and brighten your evening with a broom ride."

"Why would that brighten my evening?" Dani asked with a frown.

"Come on," Draco sighed and lowered his voice, as if there was anyone around to hear what he said. "I know you like me."

"What on earth gave you that idea?" she asked with a slight shake of her head.

"You don't have to deny it any more! I'm not going to reject you!" Malfoy said, honesty showing in his eyes. Dani blinked in confusion.

"Are you trying to tell me you like me?" she asked slowly.

"Exactly!" he said, grinning. "I only ever dated Katie because she was identical to you and I couldn't go out with you since you were in Gryffindor. But now that you like me, we can just go out secretly and no one will ever know! My reputation will be kept safe and-"

Clenching her teeth together angrily, Dani used his distraction to slam the window down, feeling incredibly satisfied as she heard the yelp of pain that came from him as his hand got jammed in between.

'Oops', she mouthed at him.

"Monroe!" he yelled in anger, his fingers moving slightly as he tried to pull his hand out. "That hurt!"

"Sorry? I can't hear you." Dani replied, shaking her head and frowning.

"Yes you can! Open the window!" Malfoy demanded.

"Only if you tell me what possible reason you had for using my sister in the despicable way you have!" Dani screamed, using the palm of her hand that wasn't holding the window to smash against his fingers. He gave another yelp and tried to twist them away but she pushed the window down harder on his hand.

"I'm sorry! For goodness sake, you're mental! Let go of the window!" Malfoy continued.

"I don't hear a reason, Malfoy! Once I do, I might let you go!" Dani snapped.

"It's because I like you! I've always wanted to go out with you but because I couldn't I went out with her. What would people think if I'd approached a Gryffindor anyway?" Malfoy said quickly, desperate to have his hand released.

"So this is all about your reputation? Poor Malfoy! What would your father say!?" Dani mocked.

"Oh, as if you don't know what I'm talking about! I've only told you I like you because I know you like me too now. And why haven't you said anything to anyone? Because I'm a Slytherin!" Malfoy snapped.

"I still don't know where you got the idea that I like you Malfoy, because I don't! The only reason I ever kissed you was because I was pretending to be Katie, for Katie!" Dani explained.

"Just let go of the window so we can talk about this in a mature way!" Malfoy whined, and Dani looked down at his fingers again to see that they were bright red and looked a bit swollen in places.

"Fine. But when I say to leave, you leave." Dani said, staring at him for a moment longer before letting go of the window.

He took out his hand immediately and winced, rubbing it to try and get the circulation going again.

"Can I come in? It's a bit hard to stay on the broom with only one hand." he said quietly. With a roll of her eyes, Dani stepped back from the window.

"No wonder you've never caught the snitch." she sighed.

He only narrowed his eyes before carefully climbing in through the window, leaning his broom against the wall and then turning to face her.

"You say you don't like me." he said.

"That's right." Dani nodded.

"I don't believe you." Malfoy shrugged.

"Well how can I prove it to you so that you leave me alone?" Dani asked, folding her arms and raising one eyebrow.

Malfoy was silent for a moment as he thought about it, and then he smirked. Dani frowned, because Malfoy smirking was never a good thing, but she remained silent.

"If you don't like this, I'll believe you." he said, before suddenly stepping forward and kissing her, his undamaged hand holding the back of her head and his other arm twisting around her waist to pull her close to him.

Dani couldn't believe what was happening and tried to get away at first, knowing that if she gave in to it she would be doing what he wanted. But then she realised the hand on her head was massaging gently and that was it.

Relaxing against him, she tentatively kissed back.

Slowly, Dani realised she might actually like him. As long as he kept acting in the nice way that he had been recently, which could very well be his true self. He might have just been horrible to her in the past because he couldn't have her, which... actually made her heart skip a beat.

Moving his lips to just beside her ear, Malfoy whispered, "I knew it."

"Don't rub it in, you jerk." Dani mumbled, keeping her eyes closed and dropping her head onto his shoulder. She noticed her hands were buried in his hair and blushed before slowly taking them out and dropping them to around his waist.

Malfoy shifted his feet to get more comfortable and slipped his mask off to drop it onto the floor. Dani sighed, wondering how she had never realised how good it felt to be in his arms until now.

Probably because she had never been in his arms like this before.

Hearing voices approaching from outside the door, she suddenly pushed away from him, eyes wide in fear.

"You have to leave." she said.

"As you wish." he said with a smile, walking over to the window and picking up his broom. "Are you going to give me an answer now or later?"

"An answer?" she asked, confused.

"Will you go out with me?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at her.

Dani stared at him in horror, her mind thinking up a million excuses why she couldn't possibly do that. He had a point – her friends wouldn't accept him.

"Secretly, of course." he added after a moment of watching her terror.

Swallowing nervously, Dani was rushed into saying something when she heard the door handle turn.

"Yes. Now go!"

In an instant, he had slipped out of the window and flown off on his broom, disappearing into the night.

The door opened and Jackie walked in first, holding Bri up.

"Help!" the brunette exclaimed. Dani quickly walked over to help Jackie move Bri over to her bed.

"What happened?" she asked.

"The punch was spiked." Jackie explained in a grumble as they lay Bri down on her bed. She was already fast asleep.

"Really? A lot of people are going to wake up with headaches then." Dani said.

"I reckon!" Jackie shook her head and then pulled off her shoes. "How cool was it when Dumbledore made everyone wear the same clothes?"

"That was awesome." Dani smiled. "The dresses are gorgeous."

"I know!" Jackie smiled, moving to put her shoes beside her bed and then stopping, looking down at something lying on the floor in between hers and Dani's beds. "Is this yours?" she asked in an innocent sounding voice before picking it up and holding it out to her friend.

Dani looked over to see what she was holding and gasped, her eyes widening in shock.

"Um, well, not really." she stuttered, her face going red. It was Malfoy's mask. The jerk had left it there!

"Feel like sharing who exactly paid a visit to our dorm?" Jackie asked with a sly smile.

"No one! I... stole it from Harry." Dani lied unconvincingly.

"Not true. I walked back with him and he was still wearing his mask. In fact, did you two have a fight? He looks ready to kill himself." Jackie frowned.

"Oh my gosh!" Dani made a move to the door but Jackie pulled her back.

"I am not letting you go barging into the boys dorm only wearing your pyjamas." she said firmly. "Whatever you have to say to him can wait until tomorrow."

"No it can't!" Dani whined, but Jackie remained firm. Leading Dani over to her bed, she sat her down before sitting beside her.

"Spill." she ordered.

"No." Dani said.

"If you don't tell me who owns this mask, so help me I will go around all the guys in every house until I find someone who is missing one." Jackie snapped.

"Fine! It's Malfoys'. But before you go assuming anything, he was only here because he wanted to gloat about something." Dani said, standing up and moving over to her own bed again.

Jackie threw the mask at her and it landed on her bed.

"He is such a jerk." she said. "Can't he leave you alone for even one day?"

"I don't want to talk about this," Dani said, getting into her bed again. "I'm going to sleep."

Jackie slowly nodded before going to the bathroom to finish getting changed. Dani lay down and let out a sigh, closing her eyes and willing herself to go to sleep.